A Slight Change of Character
by sbartist357
Summary: When Julien accidentally gets zapped by a certain penguin's latest invention, he starts to act like. . . Kowalski? How will the penguins ever fix this mess?
1. The Personality-Tron 1000

**Hey there! Welcome to my third PoM story and 10th overall story since joining FanFiction! (confetti flies everywhere) :D E** **njoy this first chapter! :)**

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It was a lovely spring morning in New York City. In the penguins' HQ, Skipper and his team were enjoying some free time, since they had finished their training early. Skipper was sitting at the table drinking some fish coffee, Rico was in the corner across from the bunks brushing Miss Perky's hair, Kowalski was working on something in his lab, and Private was watching TV. "The Lunacorns" wasn't on yet, so the youngest penguin was casually flipping through the channels with the remote control until something interesting came up.

During his channel surfing, he came across a soap opera. He didn't like them but, since there was nothing else on, he decided to just watch it for a few minutes. The scene was set in a hospital room. A lady, obviously the patient (given the hospital gown she was wearing), was trying to get out of bed when a doctor and nurse entered.

"Mary, you're not supposed to be getting up. You've been through a lot." The doctor said, approaching her and starting to lower her back onto the bed.

The patient, Mary, seemed to comply but, without warning, reached up and hit him in the neck with her fist. The doctor collapsed to the floor. Private, being the cute little innocent penguin he was, had no idea what just happened, until the camera did a close-up to reveal the lady was holding a syringe. As luck would have it, this was the exact moment when Skipper looked up at the TV.

"Private, what are you - NEEDLE!" He jumped up from the table and started running around as Private frantically switched the channel. In perfect timing, Kowalski stepped out of his lab, holding what appeared to be his latest invention; it looked like a small ray gun.

"Gentlemen, I present to you the – oof!" He was slammed into by Skipper, who was still in the middle of his freak-out. The two of them stumbled backward into the lab while the device fell on the floor. A beam of light shot out of it, ricocheting off the metal objects around the room. Private and Rico ducked for cover. In another instance of perfect timing, Julien stuck his head into the HQ from the fish bowl entrance.

"Hello, peng-" The ray hit him square in the face. Julien crashed to the floor and lay there. Private and Rico started to get up.

"Well, that was certainly chaotic," Private said. Skipper was lying on top of Kowalski, the latter appearing to be quite annoyed.

"Skipper, can you get off me, please?" The leader did without hesitation.

"Sorry, Kowalski." He brushed his feathers off awkwardly. The tallest penguin rushed over to his invention, which was lying near the table, and checked it for damages.

"Great. The circuitry is all fried. Now I need to fix it," He frowned at Skipper. "What were you doing, anyway?" It was Private who answered.

"Well, I was looking around for something to watch on the telly, when I came across this soap opera. There was a hospital scene and a needle appeared. Skippah saw it and, well, you know the rest." He looked at the ground, feeling guilty. Skipper rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

". . . Yeah. So, what does this new invention of yours do, or at least was supposed to do before all that happened?" The lieutenant cleared his throat.

"Well, this is my Personality-Tron 1000. It's supposed to take one's personality and switch it with another but, now that the circuit boards are cooked, I'll have to replace them all and start over." He gestured to the device, which was a bit burnt in the back and smoldering slightly.

"Uhh. . ." Rico grumbled. He pointed at Julien, who was still sprawled out on the floor next to the ladder. The others went over to him.

"Are you okay, Ringtail?" Skipper shook him with his flipper, trying to wake him up. Julien groaned in response but stayed in his current position.

"What happened?" Kowalski asked, turning to Private and Rico.

"When Skippah ran into you, your invention hit the floor and went off, shooting a laser beam all over the HQ, and Julien got hit with it." Rico nodded and started jabbing his flippers in the air to imitate laser fire.

"Yeah. Pew-pew-pew!"

"Oh, boy," Kowalski said nervously.

"What?" The others asked.

"I haven't tested the device yet. If it wasn't broken, I could see if Julien's personality was altered in any way. It shouldn't cause any problems, though, since I didn't put any personalities into it yet." Julien started to pick himself off the floor and sat up.

"Eh, what just happened?"

"You were hit with Kowalski's newest invention," Private replied. The lemur rubbed his face and straightened his crown.

"So, are you okay?" Skipper asked again. Julien nodded.

"Do you mind if I ran a few tests on you, just to be sure?" Kowalski inquired.

"Of course I mind, smarty penguin! I am not interested in getting hit in the royal face again by your silly contraptions! I am going back to my kingdom, where it is safe and not reeking with the horrible fishy fish smell." He climbed up the ladder and left.

"He's fine." Skipper said. "Now let's head topside; the zoo is about to open."

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 **Okay, not much happened yet! :) Oh, the needle thing wasn't made up; that was literally what happened on an episode of "General Hospital" one day while I was flipping through the channels. I was cringing for a good two minutes afterward (ugh, needles). X[ But I'm okay, people! :) In fact, that was what sparked the idea for this story in the first place. :D Alright, the next chapter will provide more info on Julien's condition. :)**


	2. Julien's Personality Change

**Alright! Welcome to the second chapter! :D Thank you to TheWhisperingWarrior for the follow and review! Here's a virtual Marshmeow-Meow for you! [-'.'-] Okay! Let's see what happens next. :)**

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The penguins were in formation on their platform. A small crowd of visitors was standing around their habitat, all ready to watch the penguins do their cute and cuddly routine. Alice was a short distance away, holding fish boxes decorated to look like penguins.

"Today's Feed the Penguins Day. Buy a box for two bucks." She said with no happiness whatsoever. Instantly, people grabbed all the boxes from Alice's hands. The zookeeper sighed irritably and stormed off to put the money she had just received into the zoo's profits (or into her pockets, who knows?).

"Alright, boys. Commence Operation: Cute and Cuddly in three, two, one. . . GO!" Skipper and his team started impressing the crowd with their adorable hijinks. Everyone was loving it, except for a certain ring-tailed lemur. Next door, Julien was resting upon his royal throne glaring at them, since Feed the Penguins Day always took his usual crowd away.

"Ugh, look at them, Maurice. Stealing all the people away from the party king, which is me. And the worst part is the terrible fishy smell!" Julien rested his chin on his hand.

"Hey, look on the bright side. You can have a free day! Just relax on your throne, kick Mort, whatever you want!" The dark gray lemur replied.

"Hmm. . . Although I usually enjoy kicking Mort, I'm not feeling it. I feel the need to be doing something else." Julien sighed. The lemur jumped down from his throne, off the platform, and walked along the grassy area of the habitat. Maurice followed him.

"Or you can dance! Even though the people are crowded around the penguin habitat, we can still crank up the volume and party like there's no tomorrow!" Julien sat on one of the stools at their juice bar and exhaled deeply.

"I don't know. My kingly bottom should be more than ready to be partying, but yet I don't feel like it. What is wrong with me, Maurice? Why have I suddenly lost the urge to be boogying!?" He rested his head on the counter and banged his fist. The aye-aye stared at him, surprised; sure, King Julien sometimes didn't feel like dancing, but this time seemed oddly different.

"I have no idea, Your Highness." He said, trying to think. When Julien didn't answer, Maurice decided to give him some time alone and walked away to relax on the bouncy; hey, if the king didn't need or want anything, he was going to take advantage of it. He laid down and sighed. Sometime later, Mort jumped on top of him, trying to wake him up; apparently, he had fallen asleep.

"Maurice!" The tiny lemur shouted.

"What? What's wrong?" He asked, getting off the bouncy.

"It's King Julien! He's acting. . . strange." Mort replied, his lips quivering.

"Strange? How?" As if to answer his question, Julien came over, wearing a pair of thick-frame nerd glasses and holding a coconut cup in each hand. To further prove his point, Mort ran over to Julien and hugged his feet; the ring-tailed lemur didn't even flinch.

"Maurice! Look at what I have just discovered! If you take this thing and mix it with this other thing, you can make a new thing!" Maurice blinked. Mort was right; he wasn't acting like himself at all.

"Umm. . . Are you okay, Julien?" Maurice asked, although he already knew the answer.

"I'm fine! I haven't blown myself up today, and I'm close to creating my greatest invention yet!"

"Uhh. . . You haven't invented anything at all."

"Which is exactly why it will be my greatest yet! I'll be in my laboratory if you need me, Maurice!" Mort let go and Julien walked away. The two of them exchanged glances.

After following him from a distance, they soon realized that Julien's "lab" was their juice bar, which now had bamboo test tubes, coconut beakers, and a variety of different colored liquids in all of them. Maurice tried to calculate everything in his head. Earlier, Julien said he didn't feel like doing stuff he normally loved doing. Then later, he woke up to find Julien acting totally different. In fact, his behavior reminded him of Kowalski.

Wait a minute.

"Mort, you stay here and watch Julien. I'm going to go get the penguins."

"Okay." Maurice left him and headed to the penguin habitat.

Meanwhile, in the penguins' HQ, the team was resting after entertaining the crowds. They were also chowing down on the huge pile of fish they collected from their performance.

"Men, this is probably the best haul we've gotten since we took care of that whole fish cake incident." Skipper said as he ate another trout. At that moment, the fish hatch opened and Maurice entered.

"Guys! You have to come quick!" The lemur shouted, out of breath from running the whole way (not that it was a huge distance).

"What's wrong, Maurice?" Private asked.

"It's King Julien! He's acting strange."

"So, what's the rush? Ringtail always acts strange." Skipper replied, not interested in helping.

"No, Skipper. It's not his usual strange."

"What kind of strange, then?"

"Well, for one, he let Mort touch his feet." Skipper thought about it.

"Okay, I admit that's not like Ringtail. Anything else?"

"Yeah! As a matter of fact, he's acting a lot like-" He was cut off as an explosion outside caught everyone's attention.

"Let's move!" The penguins and Maurice headed out of the HQ.

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 **Well, then. :/ Julien acting like Kowalski? That might be even more dangerous than Kowalski acting like himself. (Kowalski: HEY!) ;) Anyways, yeah, I put a couple of references to "Go Fish" in here, so good job if you got them! :)**


	3. Chemistry Chaos

**Yay! Another review! Thank you to Ecto-1! Have a virtual Marshmeow-meow! [-'.'-] Let's see what happens next, shall we? ;)**

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Topside, the penguins and Maurice instantly noticed a huge cloud of smoke coming from the lemur habitat. They rushed to the source of the explosion to find Julien stuck against a wall, still wearing his nerd glasses and covered in soot. Mort was a short distance away, also covered in ashes. Julien frowned upon seeing Maurice.

"Okay, Maurice. I did blow myself up today. Just now." He peeled off the wall and landed in the grass. The group went over to help him up.

"Ringtail, what were you doing!?" Skipper inquired, surveying the extensive damage to the juice bar and surrounding area. Julien brushed himself off and straightened his glasses.

"Well, I was trying to work on my latest invention, but I seemed to have miscalculated the amount of coconut water to put in it." Everyone except Julien and Mort turned to face Kowalski, who was taken aback from hearing Julien say something even remotely smart.

"Kowalski, I thought you said your invention wouldn't affect Ringtail."

"I-I-I didn't think it would, Skipper!" The lieutenant stammered. "I need to fix my device to figure out exactly what happened." Maurice raised his hands.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You mean this was all caused by another one of your guys' inventions?!" While they were talking, Julien grabbed a couple of beakers from the bar and handed them to Mort.

"Mort, will you go and mix these over there?" He asked, pointing to the far side of the habitat. The small lemur smiled.

"Okay!" He started skipping, the chemicals in the beakers sloshing out as he went. "La-la-la-la-" BOOM! The chemicals combined and exploded, sending Mort flying through the air and out of sight. There was an awkward silence.

"KABOOM!" Rico cheered, throwing his flippers up in the air. Well, at least Julien's hatred for Mort was still there. . . That was a good sign, but the fact that he let Mort touch his feet earlier seemed rather odd.

"Okay. . ." Skipper said. "Kowalski, you're going to need to fix your invention, pronto!"

"Yes, sir!" The tall penguin whipped out his trusty clipboard from out of thin air and began writing notes on what he needed for the repairs. Skipper turned to Maurice.

"Until Kowalski can fix his device, I need you to watch Ringtail and keep him out of trouble, comprende?"

"How am I supposed to do that?" Maurice replied. Kowalski looked up from his notes.

"Well, since Julien's personality is apparently mixed with my own, he'll most likely be interested in the things I like."

"Yeah, so that would be?"

"Hmm. . . Besides science, I like snow cones, candy, trivia. . ." Kowalski started listing all of the things Maurice could use to keep Julien occupied. Finally, the chubby lemur stopped him.

"Okay, okay. I'll try to use some of those to keep Julien from blowing himself up again. Just hurry up and fix that invention of yours."

"We'll be back as soon as it's ready," Skipper assured him. "Let's go, boys!" The penguins turned and headed back to their HQ. After they left, Mort staggered back into the habitat and collapsed face-first onto the grass. Maurice stared at him blankly for a moment before deciding to ignore him and focus on distracting Julien.

"So, Julien, how about we go get some snow-" He gasped; Julien was nowhere in sight. ". . . cones?" He groaned and started searching for the missing lemur.

Meanwhile, the penguins were reentering the HQ so Kowalski could examine the Personality-Tron 1000 more closely. As they reached the bottom of the ladder, they heard noises coming from the lab. The penguins rushed to the door and opened it to see Julien holding a couple of test tubes and wearing a pair of Kowalski's goggles which, naturally, didn't fit very well. He looked up when he saw them.

"Hello, penguins! Since my lab was messed up, I decided to come here and continue my work." He said cheerfully, slowing tipping one of the glass tubes toward the other. Kowalski's eyes widened.

"NOOOOO!" He ran over to him. The liquids made contact.

"HIT THE DECK!" Skipper yelled. The other penguins dove for cover just as the chemicals blew up. When the smoke cleared, Julien and Kowalski were covered in ashes, the penguin still in mid-run. Kowalski stood up straight, crossed his flippers, and squinted at Julien.

"Get out." He said flatly. Julien smiled nervously.

"But-"

"Out."

"Can I at least just-"

"GET OUT!" Julien took the goggles off, put his thick-framed glasses back on, and left as fast as possible. Skipper and the others entered the laboratory. Fortunately, just the table and a few pieces of science equipment were damaged. This fact calmed the (real) scientist down substantially.

"Well, Kowalski, I hope you can get this invention of yours repaired soon. There's no telling what Ringtail might try to do next. Fortunately for us, he didn't total your lab like he did his." Skipper noted.

Kowalski walked over to one of the tables against the wall and picked up his contraption. It was left untouched, much to his relief. He took a screwdriver and opened the casing. The inside was surprisingly simple, with just a few (burnt) circuit boards and wires. He put it down and walked back to the group.

"I wrote a list of the items I need to repair the Personality-Tron 1000," He said, pulling out the list and showing it to them. "Luckily, they shouldn't be hard to locate."

"Where can we find them?" Private asked.

"There's an electronics store a few blocks away that sells exactly what I need," Kowalski answered, drawing a rough map and showing it to them as well.

"Alright, then. In that case, it looks like we're going for a little mid-day drive." Skipper announced. Rico smiled.

"Woo-hoo!"

"You have enough money to cover it, right, Rico?" The leader questioned. Rico nodded, coughed up a twenty-dollar bill, and swallowed it again.

"Excelante. Move out, men!" The team headed over to the garage to get their car.

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 **Yep. Definitely more dangerous than Kowalski himself. (Kowalski: HEY. . . AGAIN!) XD Well, the penguins are off to get some parts for the Personality-Tron 1000. That should be easy, right? WRONG! We'll see how that goes in the next chapter. :)**


	4. Shopping for Parts

**Alright! I got a new reviewer! Thank you so much, taylormomsen8! I really appreciate it and I'm glad you're enjoying the story! :) Here's a virtual Marshmeow-meow for you! [-'.'-] As for the other reviews:**

 **Ecto-1: I'm glad you loved it! XD Well, the wait is over! Keep on reading!**

 **TheWhisperingWarrior: I know, right? :) That's true (it's funny you should mention that; you'll see what I mean in the chapter after this one). Aw, well thank you so much! :D That would've been a good idea for an episode (Kowalski would be so annoyed at himself)! XD **

**Okay, let's see how the penguins' shopping trip goes. :)**

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Somewhere in Manhattan, the penguins were driving to the electronics store to get the items for Kowalski's invention. Rico's driving made the trip anything but boring, and the others hung on for dear life as the car weaved in and out of traffic and made sharp turns. Finally, Rico slammed on the brakes, and the car made a hard stop in an alley next to the store.

"Great job, Rico. Maybe a little less chaotic next time." Skipper said as he stumbled out of the passenger seat.

"Aw, okay." The penguin with a mohawk replied. The others joined the leader on the sidewalk and slipped into the store. Inside were aisles upon aisles of technological gadgetry. Kowalski gazed, transfixed by their beauty. He was suddenly slapped hard across the face.

"Snap out of it, Kowalski! Let's focus on what we came here for." Skipper told him. The lieutenant rubbed his sore cheek.

"Sorry, Skipper," He mumbled, checking his list. "Okay, the circuit boards should be this way." He pointed to the first aisle and slid over to it, the others following. As expected, tons of chips and boards filled the shelves.

"So, which ones do we need?" Private inquired, looking at all of them.

"Fortunately, they're color-coded, so they'll be easy to spot. I need one aqua, one turquoise, two teal, and three cerulean." Kowalski wandered further down the aisle while the others looked at the shelves in confusion.

"Skippah, they all look identical."

"You're right, Private, but let's just do our best and get this over with as fast as possible. I don't want to go back to find that Ringtail destroyed the HQ." The three of them split up. Private climbed up onto a high shelf and rummaged through some boards. He pulled out a small one and held it up.

"Hey, Kowalski! Is this one teal?" The lieutenant looked over from where he was searching and shook his head.

"No, Private, that's sea foam. Teal is slightly darker." He called back. Private put it down and kept searching. Meanwhile, Rico was a few shelves below, digging through another pile. He chose a bulky chip and showed it to Kowalski.

"'Ey, K'walski! Aqua?" Rico growled slightly when he saw Kowalski frown.

"Rico, that's ocean blue! It's supposed to be greener, like blue-green." Across from Rico and Private, Skipper smiled as he checked out a pile that he was sure to be cerulean, although he never really heard of the color before.

"Kowalski, I found cerulean!" Skipper called in a sing-song voice.

"No, you didn't, that's indigo!" Kowalski replied in the same tone. Skipper growled and accidentally broke the chip he was holding in half with his flipper.

"Sweet Mother McArthur! All of these look blue! Do we look like interior decorators to you?!" He yelled, throwing his flippers up in frustration.

"Never mind! I found a multi-pack!" The scientist shouted, oblivious to the other penguins' irritation. "Now we can move on to the wires!" He grabbed the package and slid over to the next row of electronic parts as the others started to catch up. When they were within inches of Kowalski, Rico raised his flipper and tried to slap him. Skipper quickly caught it before it could reach its target.

"Stand down, soldier! That's my job." When the lieutenant stopped and turned around, Skipper slapped him.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Next time, Kowalski, don't ask us to search for colors without giving us one of your technical lessons first." The tall penguin sighed.

"Fine. Here, the wires are also color-coded," He gestured to the packs of wires hanging on the pegs. "I need one blue, two red, and one yellow. Those are primary colors, meaning-"

"Okay, Kowalski. I'm sure we can get those without the lesson." Skipper interjected, signaling to the others to start looking. This time, Private and Rico found the right ones with no problems.

"Now that's more like it," Kowalski said, smiling as they handed the packages to him.

"Anything else?" Private questioned. The lieutenant checked his list.

"All I need now are some tiny screws." The team waddled to the other side of the store where those were. Everyone except Kowalski groaned. Like with the chips, there were tons of screws, each with different sizes and head shapes. To everyone's relief, the tallest penguin put down the items he was carrying and raised a flipper.

"Don't worry, I'll look for these myself." The others stayed on the lookout for any customers while Kowalski meticulously examined the contents of every single screw drawer. After about twenty minutes, he got the items he needed and rejoined the group.

"Is that it?" The leader asked.

"Yes, Skipper. I have everything I need to make the repairs now."

"Good. Rico, take care of the payment." Rico slid to the front of the store, karate-chopped the cashier, and placed the twenty-dollar bill from before into the register. The others met him at the front and the group returned to their car.

"Okay, I hope we never have to do that again," Skipper told his team as they climbed in. "Rico, forget what I said about your driving earlier. Let's get back to the zoo; the faster, the better." Rico grinned, put the car in reverse, and backed out of the alley. Within seconds, they were on their way back home.

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 **Well, they got the items Kowalski needs for the repairs! :D By the way, Kowalski gazing at the aisles in awe was based on "What Goes Around" when he sees Officer X's high-tech van; the circuit board color-searching idea was inspired by the episode "Tagged". :) Okay, now that I explained the references. . . Did Julien blow up their HQ while they were gone? Will Kowalski be able to fix the Personality-Tron 1000 before more chaos happens? Read the next chapter to find out! :)**


	5. Repairing the Device

**Yay! Another chapter has arrived! :D A virtual Marshmeow-meow goes to Zyar for reviewing (I've written a reply below)! [-'.'-] Okay, I'll just address the reviews I've received:**

 **Zyar:** **Wow. Words cannot express how much I love your review. :') Thank you SO much! It really means a lot to me. I wish! XD Unfortunately, no; I'm just a PoM fan that felt these epic commando penguins deserved more stories. :) Thanks! Yeah, I try to put only what's needed so readers can picture what's going on and what the characters are feeling/thinking and the like. Yes, Kowalski ROCKS! XD (Kowalski: YES!) I do plan on writing more about him (he has an important role in my next story, which I'll post after this one is completely uploaded). Oh, don't worry, I'm way ahead of you - I literally have enough fully-written PoM stories to last all the way through October (hooray for pre-writing)! :D And I'm still writing more stories as I post this one! So stick around, I'm not leaving the building anytime soon! ;)**

 **TheWhisperingWarrior:** **Yep, it sure is. Hmm. . . That sounds like it'd be an interesting story. :) It kind of reminds me of the episode "Mental Hen" when he's trying to prove to the others that she's not psychic and he's getting all frustrated and everything. XD I say you should go for it! :D**

 **Ecto-1: Thank you! XD Well, you'll find out in a moment whether or not that happened. ;)**

 **Whew! That was a lot of words! ^^; Okay, now back to the story! :D**

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As the penguins made their way back to the zoo, Maurice was busy trying to keep Julien occupied with non-science-related activities. Fortunately, the ring-tailed lemur had returned to the habitat shortly after Maurice started looking for him earlier. Julien told him that he was at the penguin habitat trying to experiment some more when they kicked him out. Maurice made sure to keep him from leaving again after that. Currently, Julien was relaxing on his bamboo lounge chair while Mort happily massaged his feet.

"I don't get it, Maurice," Julien said, looking at a bamboo clipboard. "As far as I know, my calculations were correct. I took the two and added it to another two and got fish, then took that and divided it by eleventy-seven. Doesn't that sound right to you?"

"Uhh. . . Yeah."

"Say, you know what, Maurice? I could really use a love smoothie right about now. Fix one up for me, will you? Try to get Private to help; he makes them perfectly."

"Umm. . . Okay." Maurice took his time walking out of the habitat since he really didn't want to interrupt Kowalski's progress. However, considering the fact that Julien wouldn't wander off and possibly cause another explosion if he got what he wanted, the aye-aye picked up the pace and gently knocked on the fish bowl entrance before letting himself in. The penguins were already back in the HQ when Maurice entered.

"Hey, guys!" He greeted them. "How's the invention going?"

"I'm just about to start making the repairs now," Kowalski replied, walking into his lab. "If all goes well, I'll be done within four to five hours." He shut the door behind him.

"Forty-five hours?!" Maurice asked, shocked.

"No, four-to-five hours," Skipper corrected, emphasizing each number. "You know, the numbers after three but before six." The lemur sighed in relief.

"Oh, good. Anyways, I need Private." The young penguin looked up from whatever he was currently doing.

"Why?" Skipper questioned.

"Well, Julien wants a love smoothie. He said that Private makes them well."

"Okay, as long as it keeps him busy." Private smiled and waddled over to the refrigerator to get some sardines and other ingredients. A few minutes later, Private finished, adding a little umbrella into the cup for good measure. He handed it to Maurice.

"Thanks, Private."

"You're welcome, Maurice. I hope it helps," Before the lemur left, Private whispered into his ear. "I added extra love." The aye-aye smiled at him and went back to his own habitat. Julien was right where he left him, Mort still rubbing the royal feet with pure joy.

"Here you go, Julien! One love smoothie with extra love."

"Yes! Thank you, Maurice!" He took one sip and his eyes grew gigantic and girly. "OOH! This is AMAZING!" He suddenly passed out.

Maurice stood there, shocked; he didn't think it would knock Julien out. Not only that, but he hadn't even noticed the fishy taste of the smoothie! Come to think of it, the smoothie had the same effect as when Private used his Quantum Hyper-Cute on him. The aye-aye shrugged. Oh, well. At least it would give him a bit of relaxation.

Several hours later, Kowalski emerged from his lab, holding up the newly-fixed Personality-Tron 1000. The others looked at him.

"Behold! I have done it!" He announced dramatically.

"Nice work, Kowalski. Now we can figure out exactly what happened to Ringtail." Kowalski approached the table and the others gathered around him.

"Okay, I managed to trace the source of the problem. Apparently, in the process of creating this device, it recorded some of my personality."

"Umm. . . Question," Private interrupted, raising a flipper. "How did it do that?"

"I accidentally had the switch in the 'ON' position." He answered. "Anyway, as a result, when the gun fired and hit Julien, he developed my personality. However, it was only a partial switch, since Julien still acts slightly like himself."

"Like when he had Sad Eyes mix those chemicals on the other side of the lemur habitat so he would blow himself up." Skipper said. Kowalski nodded.

"It also explains how he managed to cause two explosions in such a short amount of time. Since he only has a bit of my personality, and not my intelligence, he can't do what I can do. I mean, seriously, do I really cause that many things to combust?" Everyone stared at him. "Oh, come on! I'm not that bad at science! I average about two explosions per week, not per hour."

"Fine, we'll take your word for it, Kowalski." Skipper said, still not buying it. Kowalski frowned but chose not to bother arguing the point further.

"But if Julien's still somewhat himself, why did he let Mort touch his feet?" Private asked.

"Hmm. . . Well, I don't recall Mort ever touching my feet, so I guess that, in his altered state, Julien doesn't care either way."

"So how do we change him back?" The leader questioned.

"That should be easy. I've set the device to restore Julien's own personality. All we have to do is get within firing range and use it on him."

"Okay! Let's head to the lemur habitat, men!" The penguins climbed up the ladder and headed next door.

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 **Well, the stage is set for the final showdown. Will Kowalski be able to restore Julien to his normal, egotistical self? :O Read the next chapter to find out! :) As for the references, the number misunderstanding was based on the running gag in "Madagascar 2" when Skipper is talking about how long it will take to fix the plane, and the Quantum Hyper-Cute was an obvious nod to "Cute-Astrophe".**


	6. Problemo Solved - Or Not

**Yes! Chapter six is up! This one is my personal favorite. :) Be prepared for CRAZINESS! XD Thanks to sunheart of rushclan for reviewing! Here's your virtual Marshmeow-meow (I've replied below)! [-'.'-] Speaking of replies:**

 **Zyar: I was laughing so hard at how you called Kowalski a "giant pink-candy kitten". XD Yeah, I know what you mean. Okay, here's a virtual love smoothie for you, then! c(') I think I might give these out during my next story! :D Rico, here's a virtual Marshmeow-meow for you! (Rico: WOO-HOO!) Yeah, the previous chapter was mostly just to get everything ready for this one. :) You have no idea how right you are. Hmm. . . Funny you should say that. . . ;)**

 **sunheart of rushclan: Thank you so much for giving this story a chance, then! :D Yeah, the summary doesn't say much (sorry about that!); I'm thinking of changing it once this story is complete. :) Thanks! I do have some more funny stories that I'll post in the coming months, so stick around!**

 **TheWhisperingWarrior: Alright! I hope you enjoy this chapter! :D Hey, that's good; thinking it out first really helps when it comes time to write it. :)**

 **Ecto-1: Yeah! :) Of course, it also depends on the size of the explosion. . . ;) That's a good question. Well, in "Gone in a Flash", Skipper mentions the smoothies a couple of times while they're in Julien's habitat (the second time being at the end when he asks Private to make him one so he can unwind); Kowalski is also seen drinking one at the lemurs' juice bar, so it's a possibility that Julien heard/saw that. Plus, Julien didn't know what was in it, so he could've assumed it was fruity (and, since he has a bit of Kowalski's personality, he wanted one). Well, here it is! :D**

 **Okay! Let's see what happens next!**

* * *

Julien started waking up from his love-smoothie-induced coma. He stretched and called to Maurice, who was repairing the juice bar.

"Maurice! That was the best love smoothie ever! Now I have even more inspiration for my inventing! In fact, I think I'll start right now!" The aye-aye rushed over to him in a panic. The last thing they needed was yet another eruption - and not the kind from their plastic volcano (which hadn't exploded since the whole Circus So Great incident).

"How about some candy, instead?" He pulled one out from seemingly nowhere and showed it to him.

"Maurice, I do not want to be distracted by – wait, did you say candy?!" He immediately grabbed it, tore the wrapper off, and popped it into his mouth. Maurice smirked.

"I have plenty more where that came from." He said, gesturing to a random piñata that he had found while Julien was asleep. Mort stood next to it, shaking it enticingly. Julien gasped in delight.

"CANDY! CANDY! CANDY!" He sprinted over to it, shoved Mort out of the way, and dug into the piñata, eating every single lollipop, candy button, and whatever else was inside. Maurice smiled and put his hands on his hips.

"Alright, that should keep him occupied until the penguins are all done fixing that invention." Just then, the flightless birds flipped over the wall and landed next to him.

"Maurice, we're all set," Skipper informed him. "Where's Ringtail?"

"Right over. . . there?" Maurice was about to point to the piñata but stopped when he noticed that Julien was nowhere in sight. The penguins looked around, confused.

"Where did he go?" Private asked. Suddenly, Julien tackled him from above and looked at the group, a crazed look in his eyes. The others gawked at him.

"Uhh. . . What exactly did you do to keep him occupied?" Kowalski inquired, holding the ray gun and taking a few steps back from the ring-tailed lemur.

"Well, besides the love smoothie, I let him eat all of the candy in that piñata."

"ALL OF IT?!" The scientist asked, his voice becoming humorously high-pitched.

"Uh-huh." Julien jumped off the small penguin and began running around the habitat with lightning-fast speed. Skipper helped Private up.

"Are you okay, young Private?"

"I think so."

"Good golly! He's gone on a sugar craze!" Kowalski cried, trying and failing to aim at Julien long enough to get a clean shot.

"Yeah, coo-coo." Rico added, doing the universal gesture for "crazy".

"What are we going to do, Skippah?"

"I don't know yet. Kowalski, how long until the sugar wears off?" The lieutenant handed his invention to Private and pulled out his abacus to calculate.

"Given the amount of candy he ate, it could take hours for him to calm down." He replied, putting it away and taking the invention again.

"Should we postpone the mission then, Skippah?"

"Negative. We get this done now. Rico, nets," The crazed penguin coughed up three huge butterfly nets, keeping one for himself and handing the others to Skipper and Private. "Okay, we split up and try to corner Ringtail in the middle of the habitat. Once that's accomplished, we catch him in our nets and Kowalski will shoot him with the ray gun. Now let's move!"

The group jumped down to the grass. Kowalski and Maurice ran to the wall opposite from the front of the concrete pedestal while Skipper, Rico, and Private ran in different directions. However, Julien managed to dodge their attempts to capture him. At one point, Rico and Private plowed into each other after Julien ran between them. During all the chaos, Marlene came in.

"Hey, guys – whoa!" She was run over by Julien, Rico, and then Private. Skipper was close behind but stopped to help her up.

"Marlene, what are you doing here?!" He demanded. Her timing was almost as bad as Julien's. She brushed herself off and glared at him.

"Well, I was just coming over to say 'Hi'. What's going on?" Skipper shook his head.

"I don't have time to explain, Marlene. Let's just say that one of Kowalski's inventions went wrong again and now we're trying to fix it."

"What else is new?" She muttered. Skipper brought her over to where Maurice and Kowalski were standing.

"Just stay here." He turned around and resumed the chase. The penguins were no closer to getting Julien as they were when they started, but they refused to give up. Eventually, Kowalski had a perfect opportunity. Julien stopped and leaned against the concrete podium, panting.

"Ugh, just give me a second." He wheezed. The penguin carefully aimed at him and fired. Unfortunately, Julien dashed out of the way just as he did, and Private ran into the line of fire. He collapsed onto the ground, unconscious.

"Oops." Kowalski squeaked, placing a flipper on his beak in concern. Skipper and Rico hurried over to him.

"Private! Are you alright? Speak to me!" Skipper cried, shaking him slightly. Private slowly opened his eyes.

"Ugh. . . What just happened?" He mumbled. Skipper and Rico smiled at each other.

"Good, he's okay." The leader sighed. They looked back at Private.

"Hey, bossy penguin, why are you and the barfy penguin staring at me?" The two of them frowned. Okay, scratch that. Private wasn't okay. Skipper and Rico glared at Kowalski.

"KOWALSKI! You hit the wrong guy!" The leader fumed, standing up and crossing his flippers. Kowalski gulped.

"I'm sorry, Skipper! Julien ran off just as I fired! I didn't know Private was going to jump in the way!"

"Now that's another thing we're going to have to fix! Hit Ringtail this time!"

"Yes, sir!" Kowalski saluted and raised his invention again, waiting for a good shot. Skipper beckoned Marlene over.

"Marlene, grab that butterfly net and help us out here!" He and Rico continued chasing Julien while Marlene grabbed the abandoned net and followed. Private waddled over to Maurice.

"Maurice, get me a smoothie! I want one with papaya and mango," When the lemur didn't move, he frowned. "NOW!" Maurice quickly headed over to the bar and began fixing one up for him. In the meantime, Skipper, Rico, and Marlene continued to chase Julien all over the habitat. After a few minutes, Julien stopped to catch his breath again.

"Now I got him!" Kowalski murmured to himself. He pulled the trigger.

"I got him!" Marlene shouted, jumping down from the top platform, butterfly net raised. This time, Kowalski aimed a little too high and zapped Marlene, who passed out. Rico stomped his foot.

"Aww, come on!" He groaned. Kowalski slapped his forehead repeatedly.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" He scolded himself. Skipper slid around from behind the podium and looked at Marlene.

"Great. That's just what we needed. Now we have one Kowalski wannabe and two Julien impersonators. Can this situation get any worse!?" As if on cue, Mort randomly popped up behind Kowalski and startled him, causing him to drop the invention. The ray gun fired and hit Rico. Skipper face-flippered.

"Kowalski, when I asked if the situation could get any worse, I didn't mean for you to demonstrate it!"

"Ugh! CURSE YOU, SCIENCE!" The lieutenant yelled into the air, raising his fists. Julien heard him and squinted in his direction.

"Hey! How dare you curse science!?" He stormed over to him and picked up the ray gun, gesturing to it lovingly. "If it weren't for science, this amazing invention wouldn't be around! Why just look at the-" He accidentally shot himself and dropped to the ground. Kowalski and Skipper ran over to him.

"Ringtail?"

"Ugh. . ." He moaned.

"Are you okay, Julien?" Kowalski asked.

"Eh, what just happened?"

"It's a long story, Ringtail." Skipper muttered. Mort jumped onto Julien's feet.

"Are you back to normal, King Julien?" The ring-tailed lemur grimaced at him.

"Mort, don't touch the feet!" He sent Mort flying with a swift kick.

"Yay! He hates me again!" The mouse lemur cheered as he disappeared over the brick wall. Skipper sighed.

"Well, at least Ringtail's back to normal, but what about all the other Ringtails?" He gestured to the others, who were now surrounding Maurice and demanding things from him. The aye-aye was in a fetal position.

"Make them stop!" He cried. Kowalski looked at Skipper.

"Well, I'll have to reset the device and-"

"Let's just go, Kowalski!" The two normal penguins headed back to the HQ.

"Wait for me!" Maurice shoved his way through the crowd and ran after them. Julien scratched his head and shrugged.

"Oh, well. I think I will rest my kingly bottom on the royal throne." He looked up to see the others now on the highest platform, fighting over who should sit there.

"I think I deserve to sit here!" Private yelled, sipping his smoothie. Marlene pushed him.

"No, it's my seat!" Rico shoved them both out of the way and sat down.

"Mine!" He grunted. Julien marched over and pointed at him.

"Hey! Get off my throne!" Rico growled menacingly and started to get up. Julien immediately shrunk back and smiled nervously at him. "Eh, on second thought, you can sit there. No need to be getting up to prove it."

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 **Great job, Kowalski. You made the problem worse! X[ Yes, I made a reference to "Tangled in the Web" in the beginning. :) I hope everyone had fun reading this chapter! Will Julien enjoy having a bunch of "Ringtails" around** **? Will Kowalski fix this new problem? Find out in the final chapter!**


	7. Going Back to Normal

**Well, here's the last chapter of the story! I hope everybody has enjoyed reading this (I know I enjoyed writing it!). :) Now, for the people who have reviewed:**

 **Zyar: Yay! :) Oh my goodness! XD Thank you! Yeah, I admit that might've been a little iffy but, then again, Kowalski yells, "CURSE YOU, BRAIN!" in the episode "The Hidden", so it's not that big a stretch. :) Oh yeah, but I did put a slight clue in chapter five: Kowalski says that he loaded the device with _Julien's_ personality. Yeah! That part made me laugh when I first wrote it; I was totally picturing it in my head, too. X)**

 **taylormomsen8: Thank you so much! :D Well, here's the final chapter for you to enjoy (and of course, I'll have more stories after this one as well)! :)**

 **TheWhisperingWarrior: (Skipper: Hey, that's a good idea. . . / Kowalski: NOOOO!) XD That's so true! It's funny you should say that. . . ;) **

**Okay, let's wrap this story up! :)**

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"Ugh, this is probably one of the longest days of my entire life." Skipper grumbled wearily as he, Kowalski, and Maurice entered the HQ. The scientist went right to work resetting the device in his lab, leaving Skipper and Maurice to wait for him in the main room. It was quiet. Finally, Maurice broke the silence.

"Man, I can't wait for all this to be over. I can hardly deal with one King Julien, let alone four." Skipper threw his flippers in the air.

"You're telling me! I'm still surprised at how everything went so haywire in just one day," He looked at the clock, which read 7 PM. "And to think the day started so normally." The two sat down at the table. After what seemed like forever, Kowalski reappeared, holding the ray gun under one flipper.

"Is it ready?" Maurice inquired. The scientist nodded.

"Yep, I set it to automatically restore the personality of the animal that gets hit with it. There won't be any side effects and no personality-switching; I removed that." Skipper stood up and went over to the ladder.

"Come on, let's wrap this whole thing up." The others followed him and left the HQ for the umpteenth time that day.

The lemur habitat was filled with loud music and multicolored lights. It was obvious that Julien was having a party, as usual. What wasn't usual was that, along with him and Mort, Private, Rico, and Marlene were atop the concrete podium, dancing and enjoying every minute of it. Skipper turned to face Kowalski.

"Okay, commence Operation: Party Crash in three, two, one, go!" The two of them jumped up to where the others were. Julien saw them and waved, continuing to dance.

"Hello, penguins! Welcome to my party!"

"We're not interested in your party, Ringtail. We're just interested in getting things back to normal. Kowalski, if you please." Skipper signaled for him to fire, and he did. Private, Marlene, and Rico fell to the ground, unconscious. The ring-tailed lemur gasped.

"How daring of you! Everyone was loving me and my boogying, and now you've ruined it!" The three animals started to wake up.

"Skippah?" Private asked, rubbing his head and getting up.

"What happened?" Marlene questioned, looking around. Rico mumbled incoherently. Skipper smiled.

"Alright, it seems everyone is back to normal. Good job, Kowalski." He patted the taller penguin on the back.

"Thank you, sir."

"Maurice, Ringtail is all yours," The leader pointed at him, then turned to the other penguins. "Boys, let's go home." The penguins and Marlene went back to their respective habitats. Julien stared after them, still annoyed. Maurice walked over to him.

"Hey, Your Highness. Think about it this way: Now we can go on like we always did. How about we have an extra funky dance party? I'm sure you want to catch up on all the dancing you missed today." Julien's expression softened and he smiled at his advisor.

"You're right, Maurice. Let the booty-shaking officially begin!" Mort threw his tiny hands in the air.

"Yay!" He ran over to their radio and cranked up the volume.

In the penguins' HQ, the team was starting to wind down from the day's events. They sat around their table.

"Kowalski, I believe you owe Private and Rico an apology." Skipper informed his second-in-command. The tall penguin cleared his throat and awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah. . . Umm. . . I apologize for shooting you with my ray gun," He mumbled. "Even though neither of those incidents was my fault." He added quickly.

"What do you mean?" Private inquired, raising an eyebrow. Kowalski shrugged.

"Well, nobody told you to jump into the line of fire." The young penguin gasped in surprise.

"I didn't know I was getting in the way! I was just following Skippah's orders and trying to catch Julien! And as for Rico, he was hit because you dropped your invention, which is exactly how this whole mess got started!" Skipper tried to end the argument.

"Private, Kowalski. . ." He said in a warning tone. They ignored him. Kowalski raised his flippers.

"Okay, did I ask for Mort to pop up behind me like that? I bet you would've done the same thing if you were me!"

"No, I wouldn't; if I were you, I wouldn't have invented that thing in the first place!"

"ENOUGH!" The leader barked, causing the two penguins to clam up. "Both of you have good points. True, if Kowalski hadn't made his ray gun in the first place, none of this would have happened."

"Hey, I-" Kowalski quickly shut his beak when Skipper glared at him.

"However, the fact remains that he did invent it, so we had to take care of the situation. Considering what happened, neither of you were at fault."

"Then whose fault was it, Skippah?"

"It was nobody's."

"Oh," Rico grumbled.

"Both incidents were simply accidents, ones that I want us to avoid in the future. This team needs to stay alert at all times, so tomorrow's training will focus on being ready for anything. Now, we've all had a long day, so I say we hit the bunks early." The others silently agreed and headed to their beds. Skipper turned the lights off and climbed into his bunk on the bottom. Silence fell over the HQ.

"Oh, Private. . ." He whispered, suddenly remembering something.

"Yes, Skippah?" The young penguin asked from the bunk above him.

"Next time, when you're channel surfing and a hospital scene pops up, change it, okay?" Above him, Private smiled in the dark.

"Aye aye, Skippah."

 _ **The End**_

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 **Well, that concludes another PoM story by yours truly, sbartist357. :) Eh, the argument might not have been totally in-character, but I didn't want this story to end in the lemur habitat. ^^; I guess you can think of the argument like in the episode "A Kipper for Skipper" when they're all fighting to get a day off. As for Private mentioning Rico getting hit, he did see everything happen, even though he was acting like Julien at the time and sipping on a smoothie (just in case anyone was wondering). X) Thank you so very much for reading my fanfic and writing all the kind reviews. :) Your feedback is always appreciated, no matter how old the story gets! If you haven't done so already, don't forget to favorite! I'll publish a new PoM story on Thursday, July 20th! Until then, check out my profile for more fanfics! So long for now! :D**


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